The Bell Toll
by venenatus.venustas
Summary: **WARNING** SLASH - Harry has been staring all night - what is he trying to say?


_Title:_ The Bell Toll

_Series:_ Snapshots

_Pairing: _Harry/Draco

_Rating:_ R for slash themes

****WARNING**: THIS STORY CONTAINS SLASH THEMES – WHICH MEANS HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TWO MALE CHARACTERS. YOU ARE ADVISED TO LEAVE IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS.**

**Disclaimer:** The characters portrayed in this story do not belong to me, but to the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. This is all FICTION; none of it is true. No profit was made from this story. I bear no responsibility for anything you may claim from this story, you have been warned.

**LAST WARNING. SLASH. HOMOSEXUALITY. LEAVE IF YOU DON'T LIKE. **

**Plagiarism is a crime. But I'm sure you know that already.**

***

Harry Potter had been eyeing him all night.

And it was starting to make Draco feel rather uncomfortable. 

It was almost eleven thirty now, and the students staying at Hogwarts for the holidays had all gathered in the Great Hall, determined to have a New Year's party of their own. The teachers, too, were invited. And so everyone sat around now, music blaring, tinsel draped everywhere, a huge clock set up at the front of the Hall, its enormous hands slowly inching their way towards midnight.

Ten minutes.

Hermione Granger yawned loudly, Ron Weasley almost asleep on her shoulder. The Trio were exhausted from doing Merlin knows what, but Draco suspected it had to do with the Death Eater movements he had been noticing. 

It was dark, dark times.

So Draco made a point of rolling up his sleeves to display a clear, unblemished left forearm. Even in the depths of winter, oh yes, because he hated feeling suspicious eyes on him constantly when flashing a bit of skin will save him all the trouble.

Harry Potter was slumped over a table, head propped up on his folded arms, and he was still staring at Draco, only stopping to blink every three seconds or so. It was rather unnerving. However, Draco decided to ignore it and chalk it up to him being too tired to look away. After all, he had been tired before himself, and often found that his eyes would become afflicted with Stares, and sometimes would Stare at the strangest things, like a stone on the wall.

Still…

Five minutes.

Harry Potter sat up slightly to take a sip of his apple cider, non-alcoholic, naturally, before slumping over the table and resuming his staring once more. His green eyes noted Draco's uneasy fidgeting, and at four and a half minutes to midnight, he watched as Draco Malfoy stood up from his seat and left the Great Hall scowling all over. 

He followed, naturally.

"Hey, Malfoy," he called, when he followed Draco to a rather deserted corridor – far enough that people from the party wouldn't find them, but close enough that they could still hear the muted sounds of music and chatter. 

Draco spun, and kept the surprise from showing. "Potter."

"Not coming to the party?"

"I was already _at_ the party."

Harry shrugged. "Why did you leave? It's almost midnight." A scream from the Great Hall made him grin as he spoke again. "There's four minutes left till the New Year, Malfoy, and everyone's in the Great Hall. Don't you want to spend it with someone you care for?"

Draco's eyes flickered. "Someone I care for?" he echoed. "I didn't know you were a comedian, Potter."

Harry sighed exaggeratedly. "I'm not being funny, Malfoy. I'm serious. It's the New Year, Malfoy, the _New Year_. And I'm sure as a pureblood you realise the significance of little traditions?"

"Of course I do, Potter," he snapped. "I just think that this would be the best way to welcome the New Year in prophesy of the next twelve months for myself."

Another shout from the Great Hall. "Three minutes left, Malfoy."

"What's your point, Potter? Go back to the Great Hall, and spend it with Dumbledore, and Granger and Weasley. God knows it'd be more enjoyable than wasting your time here, arguing with me."

"If we are still arguing at midnight, then it'll mean we'll argue for the rest of the year," Harry mused. He smiled.

"What's so funny about that, Potter?" Draco grumbled. 

"Oh, I don't know." Harry walked closer to Draco, until he was less than an arm's length away. 

Draco sighed. "Potter. Go back to the Great Hall. Seriously."

"Two minutes."

"Potter," he said warningly. "What are you doing?"

Harry just smiled at him, tilting his head to the right. "Come on, Draco, no one should be lonely for the New Year. Not even you."

"Well that's how it's always been, and I don't intend to change now."

"One minute left."

"Potter. _Harry_. Go back to the Great Hall. Go on. We're at a truce. It doesn't mean we're friends. Go back to the ones you care for."

Harry just stared at him, and the two of them stared until they could hear the countdown from the Great Hall.

_Ten_

_Nine_

_Eight_

"Potter. What do you think you're doing?" Draco mumbled, confused. 

_Seven_

_Six_

"Spending the New Year with you."

_Five_

_Four_

"Bad decision."

_Three_

"My decision."

_Two_

"Potter –"

_One_

Harry grabbed Draco by the shoulders and kissed him, hard, as cheers rung from the Great Hall, as the huge bell of the huge clock tolled, and as explosions echoed in the stone corridor around them. Draco was rigid in shock, and Harry's lips weren't moving against his, but remained tightly pressed, and he opened them to flick a tongue out at Draco's lips. 

Draco tried to open his mouth to speak, pulling away from Harry.

Bad move. Or good move, depending.

Harry's grip was surprisingly strong from all the extra training he had, and Draco hadn't been able to pull back enough for their mouths to separate before he was held even closer by Harry. His parted lips meant that Harry could deepen the kiss.

All this happened in the space of three odd seconds.

But finally, Draco's mind caught up with his body, and he hesitantly moved his bottom lip very, very gently against Harry's own. Who responded by grabbed Draco so their bodies were snug against each other, hands sliding around his waist to hold him in securely, as his tongue licked Draco's upper lip delicately.

"_Oo_," Draco whimpered, a sharp tingle running through him.

The crowd in the Great Hall were now singing Auld Lang Syne, and Harry gave Draco's mouth one more delicious sweep of his tongue before pulling back, savouring the look of Draco's red lips glistening with his saliva. His eyes shifted up to meet Draco's then, and he couldn't help but grin at Draco's shell-shocked expression.

Draco blinked.

And licked his lips slowly, tongue trailing over his upper lip, from left to right, before doing the same with his bottom lip, going round in a full circle. 

Harry's grin widened, his grip on Draco never loosening. "Happy New Year, Draco."

Draco blinked again, locking gazes with him. "Happy…New…Year?" he asked, dazed.

Harry laughed happily. "Yes, Draco. Happy New Year."

"Mm," he said. "Yes. New Year."

Then he blinked again, and then several times in quick succession before Harry felt him tense and try to jump away. Try to. Harry had been expecting that, of course, and the almost death-grip he was holding Draco in prevented him from getting any further than an inch away from Harry Potter.

"Potter – what did you do?!"

"You were there for it, I believe."

"I would rather like to think I was hallucinating, or that maybe this is another one of those dreams."

"_Another_ one of those dreams? Draco – you've dreamed about me before?" Harry was delighted. This was going rather well, he thought.

"No, Potter!" Draco flushed furiously. "And I was asking you what you were doing!"

"I kissed you, Draco."

"Oh." Harry had expected a cruel litany of words, insults, jeers, maybe even a punch to the face. But _oh_?!

"Er. Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to?"

"Why?"

"Because?" 

Draco squirmed, and Harry pulled him close again. "Come off it, Malfoy. You know what I'm trying to say. I just gave you a New Year's kiss."

Draco looked up at him, eyes still glazed over fuzzily. "Oh?" 

Harry nodded firmly. "So, do you?"

"Do I what?"

"You know."

Draco gave him a thoughtful look. And gave Harry a kiss on the lips before wrenching out of Harry's embrace to take off own the corridor, a familiar laugh finding its way back to Harry.

Harry blinked. "Hm," he said. Grinned.

And took off after him.

_The End_.

P.S. Yes, they get together after that. And yes, they carry on when Draco finally stops running, or when Harry catches up with him. Heehee. Oh, and the New Year's kiss thing – I think it means that you'll get with them if you kiss them on the strike of midnight, at least in my imaginary world, where Muggle traditions are actually wizard ones, slightly modified, of course. Not exactly a "serious" story, just a cute thing for the New Year.

**Happy New Year, everyone!!!!**


End file.
